A couple observations of my own:
- Epidemiology and averages probably shouldn't guide your decision to wear a helmet. There's a good chance you are not average.
- I'm a riskier rider with a helmet on, I think. Riding without a helmet makes me think more often about death and dismemberment, which is a good thing (Fela Kuti).
- Rebound effects (the tendency to increase risky behavior in response to improved safety equipment) notwithstanding , my gut tells me that wearing a helmet is smarter than not wearing one.
2 comments:
duuude, have you seen that whole film about Fela that that snippet is from!?!?!? if not, i'll bring it to CT or mail it, you gotta see it! amazing!
Here's the thing about helmets and how they affect your inclination to take risks: It's not about reducing accident likelihood, because you can never reduce it to zero. It's about making sure that when you have an accident, you increase survival likelihood. In other words, it's better to ride riskily with a helmet on and get in twice as many accidents, because you are more than twice as likely not to sustain a deadly head injury.
Probably the best thing you can do is bolt huge loudspeakers to your bike that play Fela Kuti all the time so as to alert drivers to your presence, and cause them to get out of their cars and start dancing.
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